Piano-forte



(No Model.)

G. COOK.

Fig.1.

Inventor UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

GEORGE COOK, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PIANO-FORTE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.316fi45, dated April 28,1885.

Application filed March 19, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE Goox, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, ofthe Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Piano-Fortes; and I do hereby declare the same to bedescribed in the following specification and represented in theaccompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a top view, and Fig. 2 atransverse section, of part of the string-frame of a piano, such beingto show my invention applied thereto, the nature of it being defined inthe claims hereinafter presented. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of one ofthe agraffes H, while Fig. 4 is a vertical section of one of theagraffes H, to be described.

The improvement relates to the adaptation of the strings to the bridgeof the piano, in order to relieve the said bridge and the sounding-boardfrom downward strain or pressure of the strings, such as usually resultsand is liable to bend down the sounding-board more or less when a stringafter crossing the bridge is inclined from thence to the hitch-pin, andthe part so inclined makes an obtuse angle with the part of the stringthat is extended from the bridge to head-block, in which case the stringon being strained by its straining pin or pins tends to push downwardthe bridge and the soundingboard on which it may rest.

In carrying out my invention I so arrange the intermediate or bridgebearings of the strings that all those portions of the strings thatextend from such bearings to the string bearing of the head-block shallbe in one plane, and the portions of the strings between the saidintermediate bearings and the hitch-pins shall extend through theiragraffes at obtuse angles to such plane in a manner to cause one halfthe number to go upward through and the other half downward through suchagraffes, and thence to the hitch-pins. From this it will be seen notonly that the string portions to be struck by the hammers of the actionare level and in one plane, but that of the portions of the stringsextending from the agraffes to the hitch-pins half such portions willincline downward to and the other half upward to their hitch-pins,whereby the downward strain or pressure of half the strings on thebridge will be counteracted by the upward strain or press ure of theremainder of the strings with respect to such bridge.

The drawings represent the strings as going through holes in metallicagrafies H H projecting upward from the bridge 0.

In such drawings, A denotes the string or strings of one agraffe, H, andB that or those of the other agraffe, H, of the bridge Gfroln which suchagraffes extend. The head-block is shown at D, the frame at F, and thestraining-pins at G. The auxiliary agraffes, through which the stringspass from the bearings on the head-block to the straining-pins, arerepresented at I.

In all the agraffes H and H of the bridge 0 the string-holes are to bearranged so that the parts of the strings that extend to such agraffesfrom the string-bearing of the block D shall be level or in one planewith each other. The string hole orholes of each agraffe H in goingthrough such agrafie incline downward, while the string hole or holes ofeach agraffe H in going through it incline in a like degree upward.Consequently, as each agraffe H is next to an agraffe H, the string orstrings of each agraffe H in their passage to the hitch pin or pins willincline upward, while the string or strings of each agraffe H willincline in a like degree downward to the hitch pin or pins, such beingas represented in Fig. 2.

Instead of the agrai'fes H and H, a metallic bar may be substituted andprovided with holes to receive the strings, such holes, where openingout of the side of the bar that may be next the straining-pin, being 011a level or in one plane, and each hole in going through the barlbeinginclined in a manner to cause one half the number of the holes toincline downward and the other half upward in a like degree.

I would remark that I do not claim in a piano the combination,withasounding-board, the bridge thereof, and the agraffes of suchbridge, of a hitch-pin block provided with terraces for supporting thehitch-pins at different levels above the sounding-board, one of the saidterraces being situated above and the other below the level of thesurface of the sounding-board bridge, and all being as represented inthe United States Patent No. 212,029, dated February 4, 1879, therebeing between such and my invention an important difference ordifferences, wherebyI am enabled to dispense entirely with a hitch-pinblock terraced as mentioned, and in so doing avoid its disadvantages.

What I claim in a piano is' 1. The string-bearing holes at the bridge orgitudinally thereof in one line with each other, and having part oftheir string-bearing holes inclining in a direction opposite to that inwhich the rest incline, and all of them in one plane or straight line attheir ends nextthe bearing-block, the same being to cause all thestrings where between the bearing-block and the agrai'les to be in oneplane, and part of the strings to incline in their bearing-holes of suchagralfes in a direction opposite to that in which the rest incline intheir bearing-holes, and part of the strings where between the agraffesand the hitch-pins to incline upward and the remainder downward, allbeing substantially as set forth.

GEORGE COOK. XVitnesses:

R. H. EDDY, E. B. PRATT.

